Watching my friend in the major public hospital continues to inspire me to rant. I am one of four of his legal guardians, as he does not have immediate family in Australia or a wife to take that place. Over the last few weeks, he has had falls, numerous seizures and other significant and increasing health issues. The staff do not contact any of his legal guardians, and we find out about these ‘incidents’ via ways sich as email from people in England, chinese whispers, or other nefarious means. Yesterday, I asked them to treat his guardians with the same respect they would treat a wife… and to contact us with any changes. This took some time to sink in. Although we have complained, it would seem there continues to be no duty of care, no compliance with appropriate protocol, and still no basic care. He remains unshaved, often with an untouched food tray on his overway, and mostly in bed; he has been without physiotherapy, without exercise, without occupational therapy of any kind, without intellectual stimulation, without emotional or psychological care, and the area surrounding his bed is increasingly cluttered with a mixture of clean and dirty clothes. His meal is as always, placed on the overway table… along side his urinal. I suggested it might be more enticing to eat a meal if we removed the urinal, and the retort was, ‘but it is clean’. When we clean our toilets at home, do we then go and eat our meals in them? I think not!! I continue to feel ashamed to have ever been a nurse, and realise no amount of tears is going to change what is happening to him, and therefore thousands of others. So I will continue speak out, more loudly with each breath, I will keep writing letters to the editors of leading newspapers in the hope that one day the print media will take an interest, and I will start contacting reporters who might just be interested in researching and then writing about the reality of the disgraceful health system we have in Australia. That is right, Australia… the richest western country in the world!! Chronic illness, dementia, aged care is what we can only call un-sexy, and therefore governments think they can ignore them. They are wrong, and we must all speak out, and make so much noise that one of these days they will start to make changes, improve services, increase funding, and most of all, train doctors, nurses, carers and other health care ‘professionals’ to treat us with the basic human rights we all deserve. I know there are many health care workers who work hard and care about their patients… perhaps I am just not seeing them? As I’ve said before, don’t get sick or old!